Melissa Franklin Johnson (née Franklin; born May 10, 1995) is an American former competitive swimmer and five-time Olympic gold medalist. She held the world record in the 200-meter backstroke (long course) from 2012 to 2019. As a member of the U.S. national swim team, she also held the world records in the 4×100-meter medley relay (short course and long course).
In her Olympic debut at the 2012 Summer Olympics at age 17, Franklin won a total of five medals, four of which were gold. She swept the women's backstroke events, winning gold in both the 100-meter and 200-meter backstroke. Franklin's successes earned her Swimming World'''s World Swimmer of the Year and the American Swimmer of the Year award in 2012 as well as the FINA Swimmer of the Year Award in 2011 and 2012. In total, she won twenty-eight medals in international competition: seventeen gold, six silver, and five bronze, spanning the Olympics, the World Championships, the short course World Championships, and the Pan Pacific Championships. Franklin's eleven gold medals at the World Aquatics Championships was a record in women's swimming before Katie Ledecky broke it in 2017.
Franklin won the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year award in 2014. In December 2018, she announced her retirement from the sport.
Early life Franklin was born in Pasadena, California, the only child of Dick and D. A. Franklin. When she was a baby, her mother was very worried about water safety, so Franklin started swimming purely because her parents wanted her to get comfortable with the water.Brock, Christo, and Grant Barbeito. "Touch The Wall – Movies & TV on Google Play." Touch The Wall – Movies & TV on Google Play. Christo Brock, Grant Barbeito, November 28, 2014. Web. July 11, 2016. She grew up in Aurora, Colorado, and began taking swimming classes there at the age of five, at the urging of her mother. She attended Regis Jesuit High School in Aurora, Colorado, and graduated in 2013.
Both of Franklin's parents are Canadian and Franklin holds American and Canadian dual citizenship. Her father, Dick, was born in St. Catharines, Ontario. A former All-Canadian football player for Saint Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, he played briefly for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League as an offensive lineman. After an injury ended his football career, he returned to Halifax to pursue an MBA degree at Dalhousie University, where he met his future wife, a medical student. While working for 7-Up in Ontario, Dick was transferred to the United States. Ultimately the family settled in Denver, Colorado, where Dick had a senior position with Coors Brewing Company. Franklin's mother suggested that her daughter consider competing for Canada to ease the pressure of qualifying for the U.S. National Team due to the competitive depth of American swimmers. Franklin, however, chose to represent the United States, citing her patriotism for her homeland.
Franklin is tall and has women's size 13 inch feet. "We call them built-in flippers," says her father. She has been coached by Todd Schmitz from the Colorado Stars club team since she was 7 years old.
During her rise to stardom surrounding the 2012 Olympics, Franklin continued to refuse prize money and endorsements so that she could maintain her amateur status to compete in college.
University of California Berkeley In 2012, she accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of California, Berkeley, where she began swimming for coach Teri McKeever's California Golden Bears women's swimming team during the 2013–14 academic year. At Cal, Franklin was a four-time individual NCAA champion: winning the 200-yard freestyle in 2014 and 2015, and the 200-yard backstroke and individual medley in 2015. She won the Honda Sports Award as the nation's top female swimmer in 2015, as well as the Honda Cup awarded to the nation's top female athlete.
After the 2015 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, in which Franklin won three individual NCAA titles, Franklin turned professional, thus ending her NCAA career. After leaving Berkeley to train for the 2016 Olympics with her Colorado team, in January 2018 Franklin elected to begin training at the University of Georgia. She graduated with a degree in religion from the University of Georgia in December 2019.
Swimming career
Early career
At the age of seven, Franklin joined the Colorado Stars travel swim team. It was not obvious to Franklin's parents that Missy possessed such a natural talent until other members’ parents brought it to her parents’ attention. At the age of twelve, Franklin began competing against girls who were much older than her. At the age of 13, Franklin competed at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Omaha, Nebraska, but did not qualify to swim in any events at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Her best result was 37th place in the 100-meter freestyle. By the time Missy graduated from high school, she possessed half of the Colorado High School Activities Association time records for girls high school swim.
2010
At the 2010 National Championships, Franklin competed in six individual events, and qualified to swim at the 2010 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships by finishing second in the 100- and 200-meter backstroke. At the 2010 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, Franklin finished fourth in the 100-meter backstroke and did not make the A final for the 50- and 200-meter backstroke. Franklin earned the first international medals of her career at the 2010 FINA Short Course World Championships in Dubai. In the 200-meter backstroke, Franklin finished in second place, behind French swimmer Alexianne Castel. Franklin also earned a silver medal in the 4×100-meter medley relay for her contribution in the heats. For her performance in 2010, Franklin won the Breakout Performer of the Year Award at the seventh annual Golden Goggle Awards.
2011
2011 World Championships
In her first long course world championship meet at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai, Franklin won a total of five medals, three gold, one silver, and one bronze. In her first event, the 4×100-meter freestyle relay, Franklin won a silver medal with Natalie Coughlin, Jessica Hardy and Dana Vollmer in a time of 3:34.47. Swimming the second leg, Franklin had a split of 52.99, the second-best among all participants. Franklin won her first individual medal, a bronze, in the 50-meter backstroke, finishing behind Russian Anastasia Zuyeva and Japanese Aya Terakawa.2011 World Aquatics Championships: Women's 50 m backstroke results (final), from OmegaTiming.com. Retrieved July 28, 2011. Shortly after the 50-meter backstroke final, Franklin competed in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay with Dagny Knutson, Katie Hoff and Allison Schmitt and won gold ahead of Australia and China in a time of 7:46.14. Franklin's lead-off time of 1:55.06 was faster than the winning time of Italian Federica Pellegrini in the individual 200-meter freestyle final (1:55.58). After setting the national record in the semi-finals of the 200-meter backstroke (2:05.90), Franklin dominated the field in the final with a time of 2:05.10, breaking her own national record and winning gold. This was Franklin's first individual world title, and her time in the final was the third-fastest effort of all time. Shortly after the 200-meter backstroke final, Franklin competed in the 4×100-meter medley relay with Natalie Coughlin, Rebecca Soni, and Dana Vollmer and won gold with a time of 3:52.36, over three seconds ahead of second-place finisher China. Swimming the freestyle leg, Franklin had a split of 52.79, the fastest in the field. The final time of 3:52.36 for the medley relay was the second-fastest effort of all time, just behind the Chinese-owned world record of 3:52.19. For her performance at these championships, she won the Female Athlete of the Year, Female Race of the Year (200-meter backstroke), and the Relay Performance of the Year (4×100-meter medley relay) Award at the eighth annual Golden Goggle Awards. She was also named the best female swimmer for 2011 by FINA Aquatics World Magazine.
2011 National Championships
Three days after the 2011 World Aquatics Championships ended in Shanghai on July 30, Franklin traveled to Palo Alto, California to compete at the 2011 National Championships, which began on August 2. At these championships, Franklin competed in four individual events, and the 4×100er career in the 100-meter backstroke and freestyle. She also placed fourth in the 200-meter individual medley and twelfth in the 50-meter freestyle.
First world records
Towards the end of 2011 in October, at the 2011 FINA Swimming World Cup, Franklin set the first world record of her career in the 200-meter backstroke, bettering the previous record of 2:00.13 held by Shiho Sakai with a time of 2:00.03. In breaking the record, Franklin became the first female to break an individual world record since the high-tech bodysuits were banned in January 2010. Franklin's second world record came at the 2011 Duel in the Pool in December. In the 4×100-meter medley relay, Franklin combined with Natalie Coughlin, Rebecca Soni, and Dana Vollmer to break the previous American-owned world record in a time of 3:45.56, bettering the previous record of 3:47.97. Swimming the freestyle leg, Franklin had a split of 51.32.
2012 London Summer Olympics
(AM) (WR) (OR) (WR) (AM)
During the preparation for the London Summer Olympic trials, Franklin could be drug tested from six in the morning until eleven at night, and had to report where she was at all times. She would be given one hour a day and within that hour she had to be at that exact location, in case they would come to drug test her. Franklin started training for the London Olympics with Kara Lynn Joyce on the Colorado stars swim team. Within the London Olympic trials, Franklin became the first female to qualify for seven Olympic events.Brock, Christo, and Grant Barbeito. "Touch The Wall – Movies & TV on Google Play." Touch The Wall – Movies & TV on Google Play. Christo Brock, Grant Barbeito, November 28, 2014. Web. July 11, 2016
Trials
At the 2012 United States Olympic Trials, Franklin qualified to swim in four individual events at the 2012 Summer Olympics. In her first event, the 100-meter backstroke, Franklin won the final with a time of 58.85, breaking Natalie Coughlin's American record of 58.94 seconds. In her second event, the 200-meter freestyle, Franklin placed second behind Allison Schmitt by over two seconds with a time of 1:56.79. In her third individual event, Franklin finished second in the 100-meter freestyle behind Jessica Hardy with a time of 54.15. Her second-place finish came less than half an hour after swimming in the 200-meter backstroke semi-finals, where she finished first overall with a time of 2:07.91. In the 200-meter backstroke final, her fourth individual event, Franklin finished first with a time of 2:06.12.
Olympics